Ensuring Future Compatibility
You should take steps to ensure that your driver is compatible with current and future releases of Mac OS. Two steps you can take are as follows:
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Substantial changes in task execution and interrupt handling affect native drivers. The tasking model and interrupt handling mechanisms will be increasingly hidden behind the Driver Services Library, the Driver Loader Library, and the Name Registry. Drivers that do not use the native libraries provided with the current release of Mac OS may not work with subsequent releases.
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In the current Mac OS environment there is one address space, which all applications, Toolbox services, and drivers share. In future versions of Mac OS there may be many address spaces, and applications and their associated data may exist outside the address space in which the kernel, driver services, and drivers exist. It is not possible to verify correct address space usage using the current version of Mac OS, but strict adherence to the rules outlined below will guarantee compatibility with future releases.
Task execution and interrupt handling are discussed in detail in various sections of Chapters
8
through
11. Toolbox services that are not available to native drivers are listed in
Driver Services That Have No Replacement. Addressing problems are discussed next.
© 1999 Apple Computer, Inc. – (Last Updated 26 March 99)
